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Well, getting Sideswipe back into alt mode wasn't too bad of a chore, it's not TOO locked into a specific order, but there's a lot of panel massaging at the end to get straight, and I don't remember so many seam lines when I started.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

Kylo Ren - came from Space Brooklyn, although he moved to Space Williamsburg before it was trendy.

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.

Thanks, I really appreciate it! I got a lot of lessons paying attention to Steve over the last few years, it helped a lot with reflections and pacing and camera focus (although focus is still an issue for me, hence today's reshoots). If you see anything you feel needs reshooting or more coverage, LMK before tomorrow morning and I'll see what I can do.

Sideswipe is cool, more good than bad. But the Voyager one looks to be super awesome.

The bikes, I do agree they are fugly. Hasbro says they do have a combination system worked out, but they believe the combiner aspect was removed from the film.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

Kylo Ren - came from Space Brooklyn, although he moved to Space Williamsburg before it was trendy.

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.

Sideswipe (dlx). First impressions. Alt mode. Great looking car, shiny silver is cool, but tons of seam lines on this one. Needs a lot of panel massaging after transforming back to alt mode. What's with the loose tailpipes? Seems like an abandoned gimmick. Overall, pretty good, some issues.

Transformation. Instructions are complex in a bad way, thoughtless at places. Step 6 is drawn from the least usable angle, totally incomprehensible. Hides the fact that it's a lot of panel moving to and then fro and then to again. Once you've done it and remember it, it feels more organic and goes quicker, really not that complicated after just moving all the movable panels. Tailpipes can fold in but no mention of this anywhere, again seems like an abandoned gimmick.

Bot mode. Seems a little shrimpy out of context, but haven't measured him. Significant back kibble kind of dwarfs him, as does large shoulder armor/collar area vs small face, makes him seem smaller than he is. Can stand a little taller due to creative jointing. Great color integrity, but sculpted details on the face get lost in single color plastic. Lots of sculpted details overall, but not in a noisy way, obvious choices to make more panels in key areas so he looks more TF. Love the multiple connective rods on the hips and how they are articulated, very clever. Wheel feet suck, cannot stand without a lot of work, if they had separately articulated the heel it'd be perfect, but they didn't go that route. Kibble that becomes scissor swords is kinda neat. Chest can de-peg pretty easily, but doesn't seem to be a big frustration when handling, only transforming.

Mech Alive. Pointless, when you move the knees panels slide out slightly. It seems to limit the range of motion and is visually boring. Not claimed as mech alive, scissor swords, they're geared so move one blade, the corresponding blade moves too. That's cool, if simple.

Overall. Likable, some frustration but more good than bad. Seems like a little more budget would have carried this to supremacy.

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Rampage (dlx). First Impressions. Alt Mode. Very nice looking bulldozer, lots of detail, a tad small. Treads don't move, bottom is fixed plastic. Wheels keep treads about a quarter inch from the ground. Dozer blade seems way too big compared to the scale of this vehicle. Blade doesn't move up, only down, parts were hinged but looks like piston gimmick was dropped. Disappointing. Yellow plastics basically work, not as nice as painted prototype but ok; 2 different yellows, one warmer than the other. Part behind blade mistransformed in package, flops about when it actually goes in under the head and stays perfectly still. Various parts move too freely, but overall stable.

Transformation (to jackhammer mode). Are you ****ing kidding me? The instructions are nigh-incomprehensible, 18 steps for this mode alone, they actually had to cram words back into the instructions to explain concepts here and there, and then they do a cutaway to a section without making it clear that you're focusing in on that particular section. Parts don't always end up where they claim (blade is a big one, there are tabs which simply won't line quite up in the position of parts given). Arms and whips are left flopping about halfway through to get in the way of everything for no reason. Soft-sells a vital step clipping pistons into jackhammer, and moves the legs into that position before the piston section despite spring-loaded hips not allowing that without piston part. Smooth. All for... this??? Doesn't even mention WHY this is important to the design (I'll get to that in a moment).

Jackhammer mode. WTF? Giant backpack of kibble, arms flopping about, all so the legs can pogo on spring-loaded hips? There is as much backpack as robot it seems, it sticks WAAAAY out. Is this in the movie, giant hopping around unilegged "jackhammer" guy? I sure hope not, that'd be ridiculous AND stupid looking, based on this toy. Some sculpted detailing, but feels like token work. Needs more color here too, bland.

Tranformation (to robot mode). I read someone claim this was missing steps. Sadly, it's not, it just uses poor angles and inaccurate angles on legs which the toy can't replicate. But package picture is basically this, sad as that is.

Robot mode. Ugh, I want my money back, this sucks so bad. The torso comes apart too easily, it's gappy from the sides, there's still the big backpack but now it has halfassed legs coming out of it sticking out even farther, and the head always seems to end up looking skywards. But its true failure is the spring-loaded hips, which are LINKED so you can't move just one leg, they are stuck together forever, and they always head towards bias of straight upright which doesn't fit the design they were going for. Light-piped eyes don't work at all. Knees are weak and want to collapse all the time, the rubbery points pretending to be feet seem to agree and help toss him on his face (point feet look like an abandoned actual foot was designed there, then molded as one piece instead). The whole thing's a waste, it might have looked kinda cool if it didn't have that giant crappy backpack, wasn't so spindly from the side, and wasn't just all around mediocre. It's like someone took a half-baked Scout-class figure and tried to fudge it up to Deluxe with a silly gimmick and a big dozer blade. Lost ideas abound here.

Articulation. Mediocre. Legs are essentially unposable, doesn't matter that they have hinge-n-rotation hips and knees (although the rotation on the knees is a disaster), nor that the ridiculous rear legs have a few hinges and sideways pivoting. Arms have oddly off-center rotation shoulders with sideways hinges. Ugly screw makes it look like elbow hinge, but no. Claws hinged on either side. Head kinda rotates on Z-axis (aka puppydog "huh?") and pivots upwards even more, but can't look straight ahead, thanks. Waist turns freely and OFTEN... OH MOTHER OF GOD, I JUST GOT IT!
... Ok, so let me take back the thing about the legs not being of any use. It's just that the packaging photo is wrong, the instructions are wrong, and the figure still sucks. If you want to use the hip articulation (remember, hips are permanently linked) you just rotate the waist around and then rotate the lower legs around, the hip spring doesn't work past 90 degrees and there's friction here, so it works when the bottom is backwards; the hips also have sideways hinging. The knees are movable from straight to about 30 degrees, any farther and their springs push them back.

Transformation (back to bulldozer mode). Not all that bad, tons of stuff moving around but you get to decide most of the when, which keeps it more stable. 1 transformation and several parts are already showing stress marks.

Overall. Crummy, terrible, avoid at all costs. Interesting ideas not fully developed lead to a frustrating experience and an underwhelming robot (and laughable jackhammer). Just too ambitious for final results. Oversized dozer blade dooms this guy in many ways. Deco is boring and lacks finesse. Instructions complex in an unfun, frustrating way. Disappointment at every turn.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

Kylo Ren - came from Space Brooklyn, although he moved to Space Williamsburg before it was trendy.

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who had trouble comprehending Sideswipe's instructions. I just gave up on them and looked at the back of the card to see how it's supposed to look like and went from there.